The free or cheap plugins/virtual instruments thread.

[Guifrog]

I know a bunch of bananas:

https://www.flstudiomusic.com/
Apart from the domain name, it's a blog being constantly updated (like, last post was yesterday) with new deals, free software, VST plugins, soundfonts and there's many categories, from synths to instrument emulators. For instance, that's where I got SpicyGuitar - worth a shot if you're soloing, specially for the higher octaves. CONS: some of their links are broken/outdated

soundfonts.darkesword.com
Many different, free soundfonts and a decompressor for packed sf2, courtesy of a very well-known OverClocked ReMixer. The harp is particularly BEAUTIFUL and has some cool articulations based on velocity. He gives an interesting description to how he perceives each of those instruments, to which I agree with and they're definitely good enough for a start. CONS: The Tgsf21x has an enormous amount of instruments in one single GM soundfont to choose from, and some of those are good (church organ, bells, harp, pizzicato violins), but somehow it can really slow down the rendering process. Same goes for Squidfont Orchestral.

https://www.chineekong.com/freebies
If you're into asian type of music, I recommend these! I've actually used it for a track of mine that's available commercially. Cons: I can hear some distortion when I play a few of the notes from the Guzheng, though I wouldn't say it's a dealbreaker.

Products Archive - Impact Soundworks
Now this one's very suitable for professional work. Just a few of their products are free and they require kontakt (some are available for the free Kontakt Player version, but most of them aren't), but I thought I'd mention it for the spiraringly otherworldly quality of their virtual instruments, and the priced ones... just check some of them and listen to the previews. I personally love their japanese ($99) and indian ($79) collections.

zero-project.gr: Help/Music programs
THE MOST FANTASTIC WEBSITE OF THEM ALL! *grins* I mean, this is the official website of a greek artist who inspired and helped me a lot regarding digital distribution and music licensing, not to mention the huge collection of websites he lists regarding music making softwares, VSTs and so on. Just check it out and have fun!

 

[2a03fox]

milkytracker.titandemo.org: MilkyTracker | Downloads
pretty sure most people know about it already, but milkytracker is a great way to write music. it's a tracker, not a daw. a lot of classic techno was made in tracker software. mod archive has a bunch of tracks you can import and see how they're made, which makes learning easy. brandon walsh also has a solid tutorial series on youtube.

 

[anonfoxer]

has vital been mentioned yet?

Vital.

Free, with multiple payed versions available.
Multiple oscillator wavetable based synth with modulation, wavetable viewing, and FX Rack similar to XFer's Serum, and an oscillator layout similar to Massive.

Completely customizable GUI, incredibly powerful, still very new to the scene.

Edit, some more


Spitfire Audio's LABS
Multiple sound libraries for use in one plugin. Requires their launcher to install the libraries, but they are the most natural sounding instruments for a digital synth you will ever hear

Spitfire Audio's BBC Symphony Orchestra
VST based on sounds recorded from the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Free, requires their launcher, and makes you wait 2 weeks after filling out a quiz to get it.

ADHD's Leveling Tool
Free analog compressor.

XFer's OTT and Dimension Expander
OTT - Upward Downwards multiband compressor. Basically MSG for music.
Dimension Expander - Stereo Width expander.

 

[LetUsAllExist]

Name: Mixxx
Type: DJ Software Program
Price: It's for free
Link: https://mixxx.org/
Description: Mixxx is primarily a DJ software program thing that does DJ software stuff. Ya' can have up to two tracks ready at a time normally, and four with a tweak or two. There are a few built-in effects like frequency filters, reverb, echo, flanger, etc. It's relatively easy to start noodling with as a beginner.

While you can't normally use this program for creating whole tracks in the same way that ya' can with a normal DAW, if you're of a more experimental mindset, it can be really interesting to toy with as a free, software equivalent of tape loops - except with the aforementioned built-in effects, you can quantize multiple loops together, etc.

Personally, what I really like using it for is as its own live instrument that can do some really wild, abstract sound stuff if ya' are willing to ignore specific theory stuff, and mess around much more with texture, gesture, and so on - except with a program like this, you can play stuff like that live and improvise almost like some weird space-jazz instrument by messing a lot with the effects, tempo, loop length, scratching, and pretty much any feature that ya' can abuse for extended purposes on-the-fly. I especially have fun to do the aforementioned tape-loop kind of stuff in a cut-up-and-loop sense with loading in longer recordings without much musical intent, looping little parts, and improvising some spacey stuff, and often overdubbing different layers of stuff and panning them to different stereo channels to make more complex soundscapes.

There are a few problems that I have while using the program on my computer atm, such as annoying popping sounds going on while doing stuff in it but not when listening to the recorded file, but I'm pretty sure stuff like that didn't happen when I was using Mixxx on a different computer.

Otherwise, if ya' like electronic experimental weird stuff, I highly recommend grabbing a free DJ software program, record some samples from where ever you might want, and screw around with as many different things as ya' can and see what happens. Who knows, if ya' work with more straightforward electronic stuff, it might be interesting to try and sample some weird improvised sample manipulation to make a more composed banger.

 

[Stray Cat Terry]

This whole thread is too professional for me who uses prefixed lineup of instruments... I wonder how those plugins are applied, and on which programs?

I use Midsequer 1 from Google Play, so guess it's kinda pointless unless I move on xP

It's just me, I kinda find it enjoyable to find out certain combinations and tricks to produce what's not intended/likely from the basic components UwU
But I'm willing to move on to a more diverse program if recommended!

 

[Frisky17532]

REAPER | ReaPlugs

www.reaper.fm

Reaplugs Plugin Suite

surprised nobody's mentioned this, ReaEQ is a perfectly usable equalizer that allows unlimited bands only limited by your CPU. ReaDelay is the same but with unlimited delay lines. I forget if ReaXComp is on there but that's an unlimited band multiband compressor (although eventually too many bands will sound weird because of the crossover filters). ReaJS is a scripting language that can do pretty much anything else (and if it doesn't exist, if you're good at coding you can make your own stuff. I've already made a couple good plugins (and some much less useful ones)) Only thing is that ReaEQ's window can't be resized outside of Reaper, and there's no ReaVerb. But that's about it

 

[Frisky17532]

http://jeskola.net/buzz/

Jeskola Buzz

oh yeah almost forgot about this, required if you want to use that Blok Modular thing I posted. It's a modular synth that is controlled through a tracker interface, kind of like Sunvox